Canterbury tales – discovering Maling Road #1

One of the things I love about Melbourne is discovering neighbourhoods I never knew about – and it’s all the more fun when you’ve got some great bloggers along for company.

Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to take part in a kind of Choose your own Adventure bloggers’ tour of Maling Road, Canterbury, organised by the tour-de-force that is Pybus PR.

For such a cosy little shopping strip, Maling Road has a lot to see and I took a lot of photos, so I’ll do two separate posts – today’s should give you some ideas if you’re wanting to start your Christmas shopping early and can’t stand huge shopping centres. Here’s just a small sample of what you can find at Coco & Chloe – it’s a smallish shop but it packs a punch with lots of locally made delights.

Something one should never be without in Melbourne, whether rain, hail or shine…

The Trading Circle is a one-stop-shop for all things Fair Trade (some of you might have visited it when it was in Abbotsford. It’s only been in Maling Road for a few months!).

I love the colours of this angel (?) which somehow reminds me of a character from The Mighty Boosh…

These are a great idea and I should have taken a better photo… reusable lanyards made from pretty beads – I’d willingly go to any conference that had these instead of those printed ribbon versions! You can wear them as a necklace afterwards, they’re Fairtrade so they’re helping people out, and the plastic card holder is reusable too… basically one of the best ideas ever!

Plenty of gift ideas for any time of year here, but if you’re stuck, just ask Rodney!

Another place just made for browsing is the Antique Market.

It was lucky we were on a bit of a schedule as otherwise I would probably still be there now oohing and aahing over all the accessories!

Those of you who follow Super Kawaii Mama probably won’t be too surprised to learn that she runs makeovers from a little place in the area. Birthday girl Iolanthe was the beneficiary of her expertise. She looked lovely before, but dare I say it, even lovelier after!